The Present...

I could kind of feel them squinting at me through the Markdoors, and the silence grew long.

-Huh. I must have discovered some terrible untold secret of the Brotherhood. It’s a shame that a woman who can watch dozens of battles; feel her Marked’s pain as they get wounded and killed; is running an intelligence operation of kill teams across the continent; manipulating gods, rulers, armies, and merchant lords, while forming a broad multi-racial coalition of Good against external threats to the planet; all the while making magic Items for some ungrateful sots who never had them, in between engaging in the slaughter of demons able to butcher armies... somehow can’t handle a little few facts.

-Truly, such a woman is pathetic.-

I could distinctly /feel their faces and ears all going bright red. They didn’t think I could handle some information? My default state of thinking was the metagame, not this one-to-one shit, that was for my social half! If they wanted cold, emotionless killing machine, they had nothing on me, and they knew it!

It was Brother Shadowknife who finally /replied. -This has to do with the South.-

-Overtones of dread from the Shadow and the Knife. However, that tells me goddamn nothing, because all I know about the South is what’s on The Map.- I looked down at the old, old Empires there, and the psychic wafting of indolence and decay rising off them.

He sighed. -There are no hynfolk in the South.-

Well, that earned a blink or two. -Ah, shit.-

No hyn meant no Shadowknives. No Shadowknives... meant things Outside Creation had a much easier time mucking around.

The scale of ‘much easier time’ could get Really Bad.

-So, the South is moving against Rosencrux? Or just something coming from the South?- I /asked coolly.

-Elements from the South, building for a long time.- the Firesword /broke in grimly.

-Uh, huh. And when are the stars wrong?- That is, wrong for us, right for the shit that was going down.

-One hundred and thirteen days from now,- the Shadowknife /stated precisely.

My Navigation/Astronomy Ranks swirled up. I tracked orbits on the MetaMap, beyond the world, looking at the stars with them, coming into alignment...

I threw up in my mind, and hastily moved the representation away. It was lucky the three weren’t fighting, as all three of them retched. Not quite the 40 Con scores I had.

-Very accurate representation,- the Windarrow /complimented me faintly. I /laughed ruefully despite myself.

-You knuckleheads don’t metagame enough,- I /snarled at them. -There are no hyn in the South means that one of the things they are coming to do here is get rid of the hyn. They’ll exterminate every clan in the area affected. I know you’re a cold-blooded little shit, Shadowknife, but really?-

-I cannot alert them to the fact I know, or the implications could be Quite Bad.-

I took that at face value. Knowing that he knew gave them an avenue to find out how he knew, which could lead to him not knowing in the future. That would indeed be bad...

-Ah, fuck them! Esco!-

The hyn hunter I’d saved from Leng popped into the chatbox abruptly, startled to be personally singled out.

---

“Sage Sama?” Esco asked, startled. He held up his hand for a break, looking at the Mark on his hand meaningfully. The line of hyn around him quickly gathered around, eyes wide.

-How’d you like to become a Messenger of the Gods, and a Very Important Person, and save a whole bunch of your kin, however much you might hate it?-

Esco took a deep breath, looking around at the wide, intense eyes of his people. That memory of the nightmare in Leng had never gone away. The way he had seen those people fight, that terrible focus and power in his mind, and the way Sage Sama had fought, a demon to the demons...

“What do I need to do?” he asked shortly.

-You got a Divine Caster there who can speak directly to your gods?-

He blinked, looked over at Matron Bellaya. “Can you speak directly to Mother Shiera?” he asked directly.

Bellaya opened her mouth, paused, and closed it. Slowly, she nodded.

“Yes, we do, Sage Sama.”

-----

I smiled thinly to myself. -She needs to ask some very direct questions of her Patron. They are as follows...

-Do you know that the Things of the South are coming to Rosencrux within four months?

-Do you know one of their primary objectives in coming is to wipe out all the hynfolk, so that no Shadowknives, their greatest foes, may be born?

-Do you know that there is room for a hyn kingdom to be founded between the elven and dwarven kingdoms to the north?

-Do you know that the hyn Esco has agreed to lead your people there and found that kingdom, in order to save them all?-

I distinctly heard him swallow as he relayed the questions to the hyn Priestess alone. The woman went pale, and slowly nodded her understanding.

-Remember, she must ASK A QUESTION. Her prayers to inform will NOT be heard. The Things will intercept any such, twist and warp them. She is informing your gods by asking questions of them!-

----

“I understand.” Esco repeated that in a low voice to Miss Bellaya, who listened carefully and nodded again, dark eyes gleaming. As a priestess, she had a somewhat broader view of what was going on, and knew that she was getting involved in a game played at the Highest Level.

The lead hunter of his clan found himself looking at the sky for long minutes, as Miss Bellaya withdrew to the side to pray with artificial calm.

His eyes lowered to everyone around. They couldn’t be told exactly what was going on or why, because they would talk, and things might be traced. He’d had that distinct impression from Sage Sama.

They’d already been on the way to help her. Sure, they weren’t of much use on the front lines, but as scouts, they knew they could contribute.

Now, it seemed they were going to become something more...

“We’re going to save our people.” Esco clenched his fist, and felt the hard stares around, especially from the other Marked who had been /listening in, and were also saying nothing.

------

The Shadowknife /sighed. The Firesword /swore. The Windarrow /laughed.

-Mother Sheira has excellent relations with Amana and Flora, and should inform them of this quickly. This should proliferate rapidly through Heaven, and the gods should start making their moves, probably within minutes,- I /judged. -They should start moving their people out of the Central Kingdom quickly, and if not, preparing for some surprises in the most lethal way.-

-They cannot stop it, but they can make them pay dearly,- the Windarrow /agreed. -And this crusade against the Warp is a fine excuse to make the moves they need to.-

-And no signs of the Brotherhood anywhere near. Can they sense your Marks, Sage Sama?- the Shadowknife asked quietly.

-No idea. But the conversations are taking place in my Markspace, and the contact with the gods is being done by a Powered who does not have a Mark. Let ‘em go look for a 50 Null in the timestream and work all this out.-

All three of the Brothers sighed together, and their thoughts turned to blades almost in unison, wondering how they could use this fact to fuck over what was coming.

-Sama, I would like a message to be conveyed to a certain Harse Inquisitor in Colamn. Can you arrange that?- the Firesword sort of /asked.

I eyed The Map. Four Marked lived there. I zoomed in, and their locations in the city of the western Central Kingdom were made clear. -Within minutes, if he’s available. Shall I link you up with a Marked there?-

-Please.-

My social half /shunted him off to the appropriate people. Nothing written, objects were too easy to track temporally. People meeting people, obfuscation in place, where did things start and go...

It was time to manipulate some Divinities from the distance, and get manipulated in return, like playing chess with six-foot grabbing poles.

-Query from the Sage: Why are you letting this Event take place, and instead addressing the Warp up here?- Just curious, considering what was probably going to happen when the Rosencrux Empire found The Stars Were Wrong.

-The Stars do not align for long, meaning this is a massive surge event, a collapse of great power, but ultimately finite and limited. The only danger is the scale of the Entities that might come through,- the Shadowknife /replied, with the slowness of one who is not used to explaining himself. The Brotherhood, after all, just Knew.

-Whereas this Warp intervention is something that will endure, and grow, and grow, and grow. If left unchecked, it could eventually threaten the world, and only needs enough time to do so. It MUST be checked. Indeed, the Warp could completely overwhelm the machinations of the Things Outside Creation if left to grow, and would enjoy the fight.- the Firesword /added grimly.

Huh. Letting the nukes drop while preventing the cancer from infecting the world. Totally hard-edged, callous, knowing judgements. Even the radiation left behind wasn’t going to be as bad as the cancer, so the cancer had to go first.

-Man, no wonder some gods hate you guys. You aren’t supposed to be making those kinds of calls, especially when the gods can’t see what’s coming.-

-There are certain places those gods can go, and good riddance to them,- the Windarrow /sniffed, and given the accompanying images, the rest of us /laughed.

-Brother Shadowknife, I have a feeling you might be an excellent advisor to Master Esco before he takes whatever throne is made up.- I /noted. -Might you want to speak to him?- My /voice also dropped. -He’s a Six, about to become a Seven, and at that time, he might become Forsaken if he becomes a Hyn/3.-

There was a moment of quiet. –I will speak with him,- he /replied at last.

I nodded, formed a separate box for them, and /said, -Master Esco, there is someone here who wishes to speak with you, and who you, if you have an ounce of common sense, want to speak with. I present to you the Shadow and the Knife of the Brotherhood of the Void.-

A thousand miles away, Esco swallowed, and prepared himself to talk to a killer feared by Things Outside Creation...